Doylestown reject trash service increase

Council said no at Tuesday's meeting to a request from Waste Management of Ohio for a 1.5 percent price increase to cover rising fuel costs.

"A contract is a contract," councilman Mike Agnoni said. The village has a three-year contract with the firm, through March 31, 2001, to provide residential trash pick up in the village.

In a letter to the village, Waste Management district manager Gary Vincent said since Jan. 1, the firm's fuel costs have risen by 40-48 cents per gallon. "The projection is for fuel to be over $2 per gallon by mid-summer," he wrote.

The firm absorbed the cost in January and February with no additional cost to any communities but it cannot continue to do so, he said. Beginning with the March 1 billing they requested the 1.5 percent increase, which would be reflected on the April 1 invoice.

The village declined accepting the increase. "If (fuel) prices dropped to 73 cents they wouldn't give us a break," Agnoni said.

The contract was just renegotiated in January after the firm was no longer able to provide recycling of comingled trash. The recycling was a requirement of the contract.

Waste Management offered a reduction of 40 cents per month to reflect the fact they would no longer have to pay for recycling services. But further negotiations with the village resulted in an even greater reduction.

Residents will see a 62-cent drop per month in their trash bills beginning April 1, from $8.62 to $8. The 1.5 percent Waste Management requested would have increased the bill to $8.12.

"We live with the contract," councilman Terry Lindeman said. As far as the fuel costs go, he said that is Waste Management's problem.

Council approved a letter of agreement and franchise extension with Time Warner Cable. The firm provides cable television service in the village.

The agreement provides a five-year extension of the Time Warner franchise which was to expire June 2, 2000. Time Warner also agreed to provide the village with two basic service access channels.

One channel is to be dedicated to the Chippewa Local School District and one is for existing public and governmental access programming. The firm also agreed to give a one-time grant of $16,000 to the school district to "facilitate educational programming" on the channel which is being provided.

The village agreed to rescind a resolution it passed in March denying the change of control of its cable franchise with Time Warner. Time Warner had sought approval of the change of control as part of its planned merger with America Online, Inc.

Referring to the resolution to deny that approval, Mayor Earl Kerr said, "We simply did that to preserve our right to negotiate." He said the franchise with Doylestown Cable Co. was recently renegotiated and they agreed to similar terms.

Council approved hiring former village clerk Laurie Farlow as a consultant to help with the transition to the new clerk, Ann Youngblood. Farlow will receive $450 per month for up to six months for an estimated 25 hours per month.

Kerr presented a report on the activities in Mayor's Court in March which showed 32 cases were handled. Of the $1,683 which was collected, $360 went to the State of Ohio, $306 went to village court costs, $963 went to traffic/criminal fines and $54 went to the computer fund.